EIF The Galloping Cure Festival Theatre Edinburgh 09 August 2026 Review
The Galloping Cure at the Festival Theatre Edinburgh tonight, part of The Anderson Opera Series, was a world premiere event at this year’s Edinburgh International Festival.
The information for this work states that "Opera Ventures Productions and Scottish Opera present a bold new opera for the opioid age", and it is, I think, fair to say that The Galloping Cure has more than achieved this objective.
Thankfully, so far, the UK and Europe has not yet seen the levels of opioid addiction and the carnage that it causes to people (users and non-users) across so many towns and cities in the USA. This truly is a modern day plague that appears to be relentless and unstoppable.
Set against this epidemic of substance abuse, The Galloping Cure, based on an original story by Karen Russell, weaves an allegorical tale which takes us to a small town in the USA and introduces us to its dedicated doctor Theresa Hart (Daniela Mack). So many people here are emotionally and physically sick, and even the town itself has its own melancholy malady. Theresa is fighting an uphill struggle until, one day, the mysterious entrepreneur Lucky Mack (Justin Austin) arrives in town with his carousel horses, a potential cure for everybody's ailments. Pulled deeply into this world of hope then despair, we follow the stories of Theresa, her daughter Noy, (Gabrielle Turgeon), and one patient in particular, Ivona Kowalski (Susan Bullock).
Merging classical, contemporary and techno beat music, Missy Mazzoli creates a contemporary soundscape that effortlessly proves why her music is in so much demand across the world. Librettist Royce Vavrek provides a no-punches-pulled dialogue which confronts difficult issues head on whilst also never giving away who or what carousel horses owner Lucky Mack really is. With this combination of music and words, the stage is set for some solid performances from the main cast here. Most of this story is held together with fine performances from Daniela Mack and Justin Austin, but there is room for Gabrielle Turgeon and Susan Bullock to make the most of their respective roles here.
The shift between ecstasy and despair that people experience from their rides on the carousel horses is expressed visually by set and props designer Rebecca Ringst, and lighting and projection design (Lucy Carter and Will Duke respectively), and this often takes the audience into a very surreal landscape.
Overall this is a very dark tale over three acts with the last being particularly dark and macabre as more is revealed about the carousel horses. To lighten this, the very old operatic device of comedy is introduced and here it is in the shape of two dogs Sam (Edward Jowle) and Meg (Catriona Hewitson). To start with, the dogs only communicate in canine (subtitled for us all), then English. For myself, their comedy element soon wore off and became irritating but, to be fair, many in the audience so obviously found them very funny.
The Galloping Cure highlights again that opera, in the right hands, is capable of dealing with even the most difficult of contemporary issues.
Review by Tom King (c) 2026
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
The information for this work states that "Opera Ventures Productions and Scottish Opera present a bold new opera for the opioid age", and it is, I think, fair to say that The Galloping Cure has more than achieved this objective.
Thankfully, so far, the UK and Europe has not yet seen the levels of opioid addiction and the carnage that it causes to people (users and non-users) across so many towns and cities in the USA. This truly is a modern day plague that appears to be relentless and unstoppable.
Set against this epidemic of substance abuse, The Galloping Cure, based on an original story by Karen Russell, weaves an allegorical tale which takes us to a small town in the USA and introduces us to its dedicated doctor Theresa Hart (Daniela Mack). So many people here are emotionally and physically sick, and even the town itself has its own melancholy malady. Theresa is fighting an uphill struggle until, one day, the mysterious entrepreneur Lucky Mack (Justin Austin) arrives in town with his carousel horses, a potential cure for everybody's ailments. Pulled deeply into this world of hope then despair, we follow the stories of Theresa, her daughter Noy, (Gabrielle Turgeon), and one patient in particular, Ivona Kowalski (Susan Bullock).
Merging classical, contemporary and techno beat music, Missy Mazzoli creates a contemporary soundscape that effortlessly proves why her music is in so much demand across the world. Librettist Royce Vavrek provides a no-punches-pulled dialogue which confronts difficult issues head on whilst also never giving away who or what carousel horses owner Lucky Mack really is. With this combination of music and words, the stage is set for some solid performances from the main cast here. Most of this story is held together with fine performances from Daniela Mack and Justin Austin, but there is room for Gabrielle Turgeon and Susan Bullock to make the most of their respective roles here.
The shift between ecstasy and despair that people experience from their rides on the carousel horses is expressed visually by set and props designer Rebecca Ringst, and lighting and projection design (Lucy Carter and Will Duke respectively), and this often takes the audience into a very surreal landscape.
Overall this is a very dark tale over three acts with the last being particularly dark and macabre as more is revealed about the carousel horses. To lighten this, the very old operatic device of comedy is introduced and here it is in the shape of two dogs Sam (Edward Jowle) and Meg (Catriona Hewitson). To start with, the dogs only communicate in canine (subtitled for us all), then English. For myself, their comedy element soon wore off and became irritating but, to be fair, many in the audience so obviously found them very funny.
The Galloping Cure highlights again that opera, in the right hands, is capable of dealing with even the most difficult of contemporary issues.
Review by Tom King (c) 2026
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
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